Company History

The history of Fairstart Foundation

In the years 2008 to 2010, psychologist Niels Peter Rygaard and an international team of children-at-risk researchers designed and developed a set of unique online training programmes for caregivers of children without parental contact.

The idea for the training programmes came, when Niels Peter Rygaard became aware of the fact that the poor outcomes for children in foster care and institutional care primarily can be ascribed to two factors: underprivileged and overworked caregivers who are working from out dated principles of childcare, and limited knowledge of research or of the practical application of basic principles of relations-based treatment.

The aim of the training programmes was to provide caregivers with a free, online, user-friendly education in quality childcare so that children in alternative care systems all over the world could get a fair start in life. The programmes became the breeding ground for the Fairstart Foundation.

In the following years, the organisation began to take shape as the interest in the training programmes increased. I 2012 Niels Peter Rygaard and Morten Jac officially founded the organisation and in 2016, Fairstart was established as a foundation in order to be able to comply with the great and still increasing demand for education of caregivers as well as programme instructors.

In fall 2016, the European civil society for education, Life Long Learning Platform awarded Fairstart the innovation price Inspiring Practices. Read more here.